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Yutong Bus

Yutong Bus Model Draws a Crowd at Shanghai Bus Show

Shanghai—If you've ever worked a trade show where a trained seal and/or Gisele Bündchen couldn't spur traffic to your booth, you know that a good draw makes for a good crowd. If 500 inquisitive bus designers, builders and buyers were any indication, the scale model of Alcoa's new aluminum-intensive Yutong city bus did its job and then some at the recent Busworld Asia 2008 show in Shanghai. In exhibit halls where massive city busses, coaches and luxury rolling homes dominated the floor, it was a reproduction the size of a small filing cabinet that provided all the excitement that Alcoa had hoped for.

The conversation starter was a 1/8th scale model of the new Yutong/Alcoa weight-saving bus that Yutong will drive out of final assembly in Zhengzhou this July. It took three builders eight weeks to mold, form, erect and decorate the mini-bus, which is complete with such minute details as rear view mirrors, windshield wipers—and even milled aluminum wheels! One side of the model is cut away to reveal the aluminum superstructure beneath its outer skin.

"Our model caught all the right people's attention at the show," said Kelvin Li, Alcoa's market development director, Ground Transportation, Alcoa Asia Pacific, based in Shanghai. "We had groups of high level executives (from other bus companies) all coming over to see if we would 'cooperate' with them. One potential customer came over to the booth on Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3, saying 'Come over to my plant so we can discuss your approach with us.' The model made using aluminum more real to them. Everybody wants to partner with Alcoa." Follow up discussions have been fruitful.

And that's really the idea behind the show, to get more companies in more markets using aluminum. Ask Jinya Chen, president of Alcoa's Asia-Pacific region. "The Yutong Bus Project is extremely important, not only because we are supplying one of the best companies in China, but also one of the best bus companies in the world," Chen said. "Yutong is the industry leader in innovation. (So) what happens in China will affect other parts of the world."

Parts from the United States are en route to the Yutong factory in Zhengzhou, where the first bus will begin being assembled in a few short weeks.